Being prepared - getting a foot in the door and not in your mouth

In nature, being prepared is not a matter of professionalism or reputation management [or neurosis!], it is quite simply the difference between life and death.

There is no 'cramming' in nature - hibernating animals must lay down fat stores or food stores or they die. Farmers must work the land throughout the year or there will be nothing to reap.

In human endeavours, top-end athletes pace their training so that they are peaking on the day of a race. Soldiers are put through ‘live fire’ exercises to accomplish the same coming up to a deployment. Everyone involved in a major project is aware of the go-live date.

In managing your career, you can learn to develop a routine in the days and weeks counting down to an important interview, meeting or presentation. If need be, negotiate with your loved ones and get their agreement on this.

I have seen candidates get up from their desk and walk down the corridor to an internal interview. They don’t look their best, their heads are full of the task they were just working on and they seem to treat an interview that could affect their career, life, and standard of living as little more than a nuisance. OK, that’s a radical example, but in my mind, it equates to an athlete showing up for an Olympic final having just eaten a heavy meal and wearing wellington boots.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have had clients who spent two nights in a hotel with the phone turned off to get away from everything coming up to a vital negotiation or presentation. Extreme? Definitely. Did it work, was it worth it? For them - most assuredly, yes. For you? Only you can answer that - how important is the upcoming event?

Let's take the example of a job interview. You need to be as focused, calm and perfectly-groomed as possible when you step through the door of the interview room. You have very little control of pace, approach or line of questioning once you are into the interview proper, so make sure everything that you can control goes smoothly.

THE DAYS BEFORE

• Collate your research on the organisation and review it over and over again. Make your last few phone calls to fill in any gaps. If there are still significant gaps in your knowledge of the organisation, decide how you are going to address them at the interview.

• Your research and the nature of the job should give you strong indicators of the likely areas of questioning. Map the key points that you want to make about yourself against the questions you have anticipated. Too many candidates think interviews are about answering the questions you are asked. Not so - they are about selling a carefully prepared agenda; the "Reasons Why You Should Buy Me" sales pitch.

• Practice your answers to the key interview questions over and over. Keep doing this out loud, so you get the terminology and phrasing into your vocal memory. The vocabulary of interview is strange and unfamiliar, so give it the respect it deserves and get it smooth …

• If possible, find out how many people will be interviewing you and what their names, titles and ages are. Know thine enemy.
  

• If you have never been to the area or the specific building where the interview will be taking place before, check it out a day or two ahead of time.

• Get your clothing cleaned and pressed well in advance. Lay it out the night before - run it by someone you trust for final approval.

THE DAY ITSELF

• Telephone to confirm time and location and that you are looking forward to meeting the interviewer (do this the afternoon before if it your interview is in the morning).

• No strong-smelling foods in advance of the interview. A garlic-laden meal the night before can leave your body and breath smelling for up to 36 hours.

• Arrive five to ten minutes early. Allow plenty of time for traffic and parking. Sit and wait in your car or in a nearby café with a book or newspaper if necessary.

• If at all possible, get rid of your coat and umbrella in reception. Likewise your briefcase. The only people who carry these items around in an office environment are outsiders.

• Ask to use the facilities. Then: check your hair / clothes / accessories / make-up; clean your glasses; make sure that your shoes are immaculate. Wash your hands in warm water and dry them thoroughly. Adjust your clothing for the final time. Button your suit jacket, if appropriate.

• Review the key points that you want to leave in their minds one last time. If you are bringing a notebook into the interview, you should have them written at the top of the page in very faint pencil - a constant visual mnemonic as the interview unfolds.

• Sit up straight facing the door in the waiting room or reception area - do not pace around and do not read magazines, newspapers or company literature.

• Don’t accept tea, coffee or a cigarette once you are in the building, no matter how badly you might want it. A glass of water is OK in the interview room unless you are prone to very shaky hands.

• If your palms tend to get cold or sweaty when you are under stress, try and keep your right hand warm and dry for the initial handshake - long, slow, deep breathing will help here.

• Smile, firm handshake with good eye contact, and off you go ...

Different people do different things to get ‘into the zone.’ If you are not sure how to do this for yourself, think of the last time you were really proud of a huge concentrated effort you made at something. It could be something physical or something mental. When you finished, your head came up and you sort of ‘swam’ back to reality. [Women are forever complaining that men seem to live in their own little world when they behave like this - doing DIY, watching sports, reading the manual for the new surround sound system. I suspect, like so many things, this goes back to the hunt, when man needed to be able to focus in this way in order to be an effective provider of fresh meat.]

Find out what works for you and start to develop your countdown routine for these big events. A negotiation, crucial meeting, interview or major presentation is comparable to a hunt, so get it right and you won’t go hungry …

“I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
(Thomas Jefferson)